Holiday body shaming and food talk

 

Why do people comment about bodies and food around the dinner table?

You may be surprised to hear that people bring up body and food talk for reasons that usually have nothing to do with you and everything to do with culture, habits, and their own insecurities.

🍽️ Many people grew up in a family where talking about weight, diet, or appearance was considered normal conversation.

🍽️ Diet culture is deeply ingrained. Society has treated body size as a moral issue and food as “good” or “bad.”

🍽️ Holidays heighten food anxiety. When someone feels guilty or worried about eating, they often comment on what someone else is eating to cope or deflect.

🍽️ Unsolicited comments about health or weight are often framed as “concern.”

🍽️ For some, commenting on others’ plates or bodies is a way to feel superior or justify their own choices.

➡️ Negative comments about bodies or food are usually a reflection of the person saying them—not the person hearing them. 

Understanding that can make their words feel less personal so you respond with confidence and boundaries.

You are not born hating your body

We live in a society where we are constantly being told that losing weight is good and gaining weight is bad. Although segments of the population may benefit from dietary changes that will promote healthy weight loss to reduce the complications from metabolic syndrome, many individuals (particularly athletes) are constantly striving for a smaller version of themselves. 

Often times - as a result of undereating, dieting, overtraining and underfueling - physical health gets destroyed and emotional well-being becomes compromised. 

You are not born hating your body. You are not born fearing weight gain. You learn to feel fat. Thanks to a society that believes that gaining weight in any context is shameful, unhealthy and bad, you grow into hating your body. Society is constantly trying to sell you the idea that you will never be good enough the way that you are. That you would be happier, healthier or fitter if you weighed less, had less fat around your stomach or toned up your arms and legs. As you buy in to the damaging and deceiving messages from the media, you learn that any type of weight gain will negatively affect you socially, physically and psychologically. You have been told that if you gain weight (or maintain your weight), you will look worse, you are not a good person, you are lazy or you are unhealthy. 

I know this mindset shift is challenging. It will take time, it will feel like an everyday task and you may need help. It can be extremely difficult to learn how to love your body what you have spent so much time hating your body. But you must fight these thoughts in order to restore your health and to heal the damaged relationship with your body and food.

It won't be easy but the ultimate goal is to learn to really love yourself and to detach your value and self worth from your appearance. Continue to challenge negative talk. Surrender to your fears. It's time to put more energy into what's most important to you in your life. There is so much more to you than your body image. Learn to love and to accept yourself. Your body is amazing. 

Why I never tell my athletes to lose weight

There's not a day that goes by that I don't thank my body for what it allows me to do.
I may be an athlete, but I am also a coach.

As a triathlon coach and Board Certified Sport Dietitian, my job is to help athletes optimize performance for race day. Although many factors contribute to performance improvements, many coaches (and nutrition experts) believe that losing weight will aid in performance improvements.

Unhealthy weight control/loss practices are a serious problem in sport, especially in the two sports that I specialize in - triathlon and running. Too often, athletes are pressured by media, coaches and competitors to change body composition in order to boost performance. If losing weight was a guarantee to performance improvements, than any athlete who has lost weight would find it easy to succeed in sport. But this is far from the truth.

Many athletes are told (or assume) that they would be more successful in a sport if they lost weight or changed body composition. Regardless of whether or not weight loss may contribute to performance improvements, athletes who are asked or told to lose weight or change body composition are more likely to engage in unhealthy behaviors such as fasted workouts, skipping meals, replacing higher calorie foods for calorie-free/diet foods, fasting/cleansing/detoxing, using weight loss supplements, diuretics or laxatives and/or overexercising. These methods are not healthy or performance enhancing. Yet athletes feel pressure from coach to "lose weight."

So how do we break this cycle of brainwashing athletes that weight loss = performance improvements.

First off, it starts with the coaches, or those who are directly related to an athlete's ability to improve. Many coaches and experts wrongly place their own attitudes, thoughts, strategies and personal experiences with weight, dieting and body image on their athletes. Understanding that athletes need good role models that promote a positive self-image and healthy dietary and fueling strategies, I strive to be the change that athletes need to boost self-confidence when it comes to body image and performance.

Secondly, weight is a sensitive and personal issue for many athletes. Unfortunately, many coaches and nutrition experts do not realize how words can hurt or stick with an athlete. When a coach suggests to an athlete that weight loss may/will improve performance or if a coach makes comments about weight, the athlete is no longer able to recognize his/her individual strengths, improvements or skills but instead, feels a significant amount of pressure to change the way that he/she looks, often at any cost.

Coaches should consider how an athlete's lifestyle choices, mental and physical health, emotions and individual development can contribute to performance. Assuming that if an athlete weighs less that he/she will become a better athlete is not only wrong but it is on the verge of being unethical. There are so many other ways that an athlete can become a better athlete. We must stop assuming that when an athlete looks differently, he/she will become faster, fitter, stronger or better.

When I work with athletes (coaching or nutrition), I always consider the possible outcomes of my advice. I do this through getting to know my athletes as much as possible. I listen to my athletes to understand where they are at in their individual journey and their current relationship with food and the body. I explore every outlet possible to help an athlete improve performance and to get the most out of their body, without placing the focus on the body. Many times, athletes will come to me with a weight loss goal and without focusing on weight, they unintentionally lose weight because lifestyle habits have changed. While a coach or nutrition expert may mean well, telling an athlete to lose weight/change body composition can do more harm than good when coaches do not take careful consideration of the risks and benefits for each athlete that he/she suggests to lose a few lbs. Additionally, most athletes do not seek out professional guidance and support when starting a weight loss journey so no one is there to watch over an athlete for extreme behaviors, reduce misinformation and to debate against unhealthy dietary practices that can sabotage performance and health.

As a coach and nutrition expert, I take performance very seriously but more so, I take eating disorders and the health of my athletes very seriously. I don't believe in targeting weight as the limiter or best next step toward athletic success. Instead, I focus on the many ways that an athlete can improve performance and sometimes this results in a favorable yet unintentional change body composition, like eating "enough", fueling properly, timing food with workouts, strength training, mental strength, quality sleep, good recovery practices and consistent training. While weight loss may lead to performance improvements, we can't assume that reducing body fat will benefit every athlete. There are no shortage of cases where athletes have experienced a temporary boost in performance in the initial phases of changing body composition but it's no uncommon for these athletes to eventually experience eating-disorder/disordered eating symptoms, overtraining, hormonal issues, menstrual irregularities (female athletes), low bone density, a weakened immune system, chronic injuries and a performance decline (or a sporting career cut short) overtime.

Sports are designed to build self-esteem, boost confidence, promote physical strength and endurance, improve skills and teach life lessons. Being an athlete should not involve great psychological and physical stress, especially as it relates to body image. We have too many athletes spending far too much time trying to weigh less because a coach, trainer or nutrition expert suggested to do so.

To ensure athletic success, I advise coaches, nutrition experts and trainers to stop advising athletes to lose weight and instead, focus on good lifestyle practices to help athletes optimize performance. If you think that your athlete may be taking extreme measures to change body composition in an effort to become a "better" athlete, here are some of the warning signs to watch out for:

• Eating too little, exercising/training too much
• Increased focus on weight, body composition, size, appearance
• Using caffeine or boosters to get through workouts
• Sudden change in mood
• Feeling the need to be perfect, persistent feelings of inadequacy
• Rapid/notable weight loss
• Significant energy deficit during advanced training
• Injuries (stress fractures) and overuse injuries
• Symptoms of overtraining 
• Hormonal/health issues

Coaches - let's help athletes build a better relationship with their bodies and with food. With proper education, support and guidance, athletes are more likely to improve performance and maintain great enjoyment for the sport for many years to come when they don't feel pressure to look differently.

Athletes - love your amazing body and be sure to thank it daily. Rest it, respect it, nourish it and fuel it. 

Eat To Thrive: Is your relationship with food/body affecting your athletic performance?

        

In our recent interview with the Intelligent Racer Podcast, I talked about my passion for helping athletes with nutrition. A lot of my nutrition counseling is helping athletes with the application of using food and sport nutrition properly in order to improve health and performance. But another aspect of my nutrition services is helping athletes overcome an unhealthy relationship with food and the body in order to improve athletic performance, health and quality of life. 

From my experience, by improving your relationship with your body, you can actually improve your relationship with food, which will enhance your athletic performance. When you begin to thank your body (instead of bashing it), respect your body (instead of starving or overexercising it) and appreciate your body (instead of wishing you looked differently), you begin to make better lifestyle choices that actually promote health and performance. It is through these choices that you can better understand how to best train and eat for your fitness and health needs.

It's unfortunate, but it's the truth, that many athletes do not feel comfortable in their own skin. They train and eat for the wrong reasons. Instead of working out for performance gains and to improve skills, to dial in fueling and hydration and to stretch the comfortable zone, athletes are working out to burn calories or to work off previously consumed "bad" food or to deserve reward food. While this strategy may work for an exerciser or fitness enthusiast without significant health risks, this approach can greatly compromise health and overall well-being when an athlete uses marathon running or endurance triathlon training alongside dieting (or restrictive eating/fueling), to lose weight or to change body composition.

Whereas sport should make you feel strong, confident and healthy, for select athletes, it does the opposite when an unhealthy relationship with food and the body is in place. Working out should never been seen as a punishment (or strategy) to burn calories or to fix the body. Food should be for enjoyment, fuel and nourishment, it should never give you guilt, frustration and fear.

Thanks to social media and magazines promoting unrealistic body images and bloggers offering unsafe and impractical/unsustainable dietary advice, many athletes are not feeling motivated to train for performance and health improvements, but instead, are dealing with the constant comparisons of idealized images of "an athlete's body" or whatever dietary strategies are promoted be fit, race ready and "healthy".

I was recently thinking back to an article I wrote for March 2015 issue of Triathlete Magazine, where I discussed the topic of achieving performance breakthroughs by paying attention to current eating behaviors and thoughts about the body. Making smart dietary choices will help you reach your athletic potential so it is important to recognize if your commitment to your racing and training goals is steering your relationship with food in an unhealthy direction.

In my Eat To Thrive article, I provide you with three red flag situations and how you should address them. Of course, if you feel like your relationship with food and the body is compromising your health, performance and/or quality of life, it is important to reach out to a Registered Dietitian for help. He/she can take away the guessing so that you can start living a productive and successful life where food is not the enemy and you learn to appreciate the goodness in your body.



                              To read the article: Eat To Thrive

Relearning how to eat normally

As an athlete, you make a lot of daily lifestyle choices which are likely not "normal" compared to your non-athlete counterparts.
Your standards for daily exercise and healthy eating are far from the norm.
For example, when was the last time you said, "I only ran 90 minutes today, but it was just an easy run" or brought a cooler of foods to a work conference because you enjoy being in control of your portions and how your food is prepared?

To reach your athletic goals, you make a lot of daily choices to maximize your performance and many times, to an outsider, your dedication to your athletic lifestyle looks absolutely crazy and unnecessary.

But when you surround yourself with your like-minded athlete buddies, you suddenly feel part of the crowd. Your decisions, actions and choices are praised, admired and sometimes needed to "fit in" among your athletic partners.
You may even go out of your way on social media to follow nutrition experts who "get you."

While it is socially accepted among your athlete friends to train and eat like you do, it is important that your food rules do not interfere with your ability to eat normally. 

Athlete or not, never should you eat with anxiety, fear, guilt or frustration.

Has your relationship with food turned obsessive and disordered?

Are food rules preventing you from having permission to eat sugar, carbs, grains, dairy or other foods or food groups?

Have you lost the ability to have an appetite to eat?

Do you feel no pleasure when you eat?

Is it difficult for you to eat in social settings without feeling judged?

Do you feel uncomfortable when someone else prepares your food?

What was once a desire to lose a few lbs or to eat cleaner, do you find yourself living an overwhelming lifestyle of feeling controlled by food?

Are your current food choices keeping you from staying in good health or performing well as an athlete?

With so many athletes being more and more misinformed about sport nutrition and healthy eating (and it is about to get much worse come the New Year, as usual), to the point of being afraid of eating the wrong foods, it's very sad to see so many athletes suffering from bone-related injuries, blood sugar swings, fatigue, low energy, unhealthy weight loss/gain, cardiovascular issues, hormonal, metabolic, endocrine and other health issues related to "food rules."

In my practice, I am not a specialist in eating disorders. However, I do work with many athletes who struggle with their relationship with food and the body. My focus is on helping athletes break down food barriers to eat normally - in life AND as an athlete - in order to reach athletic goals.

While this type of nutrition consultation journey is much more complicated and in-depth than helping athletes fine-tune sport nutrition (fueling/hydration) for an upcoming event, the end goal is for an athlete to successfully eat and fuel without food rules or negative thoughts about the body.

If you are an athlete who has been living a life controlled by food rules, often feeling a strong need to control your food intake to avoid the guilt and uncomfortable feeling that comes from eating "bad" foods, it's time to relearn how to eat.

Imagine the possibilities when you let food enhance your life, instead of controlling your life.
Life is not about calories, grams, diets, food rules and an off-limit food list.

Consider the opportunities in life when you can eat normally - anywhere, anytime.

If this blog post resonates with you, this doesn't mean that you are a bad person.
There is absolutely no shame or self-guilt to be felt if you struggle with your relationship with food and the body.

If you are ready to relearn how to eat, consult with a professional who specializes in disordered eating/eating disorders for help. 

Disordered eating

We live in a culture that emphasizes, rewards, worships and celebrates lean, toned and fit bodies. Individuals with an unhealthy relationship with food and the body may seek extreme events to train for and restrictive methods of eating and fueling in an effort to control weight and to justify excessive exercise patterns.  

Many athletes succeed in sports (especially endurance events) because they are great at doing things in extreme. But extreme thoughts, attitudes and beliefs about food and the body (especially as it relates to performance improvements) can become obsessive and may lead to more serious disordered eating habits.

If your self-imposed rules, regulations and guidelines about what to eat and not to eat around and during workouts are taking precedence of what your body actually needs (and even with alarming symptoms like low blood sugar, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, blurred vision, headache, dehydration manifesting into your workout or day), you are manipulating your diet in a restrictive way as a coping mechanisms for not dealing with feelings about your body, relationships or in life, needing to feel more control, or you want to please others or you hate the way you look, don't wait for a serious health issue or a massive performance decline or blood tests to demonstrate an underlying issue. Get help now.

We live in a society where it's easy to get stuck into one style of eating and then to jump from one style to another when you no longer find success in one diet. 

Sadly, many athletes believe that the thinner and leaner you are, the better you will perform and the happier you will be. And when you don't succeed with your weight goals, the blame is often put on you that you "failed" the diet and that you didn't give it "enough time". You then scratch your head because you simply don't understand how the method that apparently works for everyone else (as claimed by social media, forums and word of mouth) is not working for you, despite every article and scientific research study proving that this is the best way to eat.

Athletes are exceptional at adhering to guidelines and rules and can believe that there's only one right way to eat, thus assuming that everything else (ex. sugar, carbs, sport nutrition, hydration, salt, grains, dairy, etc.) are "bad".

We live in a world where seeing is believing. 

What if the fitness experts, coaches and athletes (of all levels) that you look up to and follow are engaged in disordered eating? These disordered beliefs, attitudes and behaviors around food or exercise make onlookers and followers (YOU) believe that these depriving and restricting methods are "normal" or even required in order to be healthy and to perform at your best.

Athletes can easily hide or rationalize disordered eating behaviors under the claims "I'm training for an event and I need to get leaner" or "I'm improving my performance by becoming a better fat adapted" or "I can't eat that because it will ruin my health" or "I need to exercise more to get into better shape."

While every athlete can welcome a healthier style of eating and should consider working with a sport dietitian to master performance eating and fueling, extreme methods or unrealistic weight or performance goals can can easily foster unhealthy eating habits and disordered body image thoughts. These eating habits cause also cause great stress, anxiety and social isolation.  

To develop new skills and dietary habits that actually improve your health and performance you must be willing to welcome positive messages about food and your body.

The more rules, plans, experts, diets and nutrition information overload that you welcome into your life, the more likely that your your eating patterns (and thoughts about your body) will become more distorted and obsessive which will ultimately sabotage your performance and health goals.

If you are struggling with your relationship with food and the body, get professional help.
Let food enhance your life, not control your life. 

The athlete's body composition paradox

Have you been told that if you want to be faster, you need to lose weight?

Well let me tell you that athletic performances cannot be accurately predicted based solely on body weight and composition, assuming that if you are "less", you will gain "more".

I have seen and worked with many athletes who don't recognize their past/current successes in their healthy and strong body. Despite good, great and/or better race results through proper fueling/eating, the athlete feels he/she does not have "an athletes body" and is constantly trying to lose weight through overtraining and underfueling in an effort to train for a lower body composition.....not for better performances. 

We must also understand that to race "fast" we have to consider how you physically and mentally prepare for your races. Ultimately, the athlete who remains in the best health throughout a training cycle will out-perform a lean, yet underfueled, injured or undernourished athlete.

There are many dietary and training methods that will change your body composition as an athlete, which may positively or negatively affect your health and performance. 

So now I see a paradox that overwhelms and often sabotages the performance and health status of many athletes. 

The athlete's body composition paradox: 

-An athlete wants to achieve a specific body composition to become faster, stronger, more powerful and more efficient. Science has shown us that the human body can be faster and more efficient with an increase in lean muscle mass and a decrease in fat mass. However, the strategies for a change in body weight/composition can often adversely affect health, hormones, tissue growth/repair, energy metabolism, energy reserves, pyschological and physiological functioning and negatively affect an athlete's ability to train and compete at a higher level. 

Athletes, keep in mind that even short periods of food restriction/no sport nutrition fueling can negatively affect how you train, compete and recover. Poor exercise performance and an increase in injuries and burnout will occur in the underfueling/undernourished athlete. 

Let a change in body composition be a direct, yet non-forced, result of how well you can meet your energy demands around/during workouts in order to train harder and to recover faster and how committed you are to properly nourishing your body on a day-to-day basis. 

A healthy body performs amazingly well. Stop chasing a body image and pioritize fueling your amazing body in motion. 

I never said you can't or can't aim to lose weight or change body composition to boost your performance. But if your strategies for weight loss/body composition changes are counterproductive to your initial goals of being faster, more resilient, healthier, stronger and more powerful OR when you achieve your ideal image you can not perform/meet the athletic demands of your sport with your new body, your approach is not working. 

If you are struggling to understand how to fuel for performance and for health, it's best to seek professional help with a sport RD who can guide you in the best individualized approach for your health and performance goals. 

#NEDAwareness - athletes, evalute your relationship with food

Before a race, after a workout, at work, around your training buddies, in the bathroom, with your family/kids, when trying on clothes.....

How often do you criticize your body?

Before a race, after a workout, at work, around your training buddies, in the bathroom, with your family/kids, when trying on clothes.....

How often do you feel guilty or hate what/how you are eating? 

There are millions of people affected with an eating disorder at sometime in their lifetime however, eating disorders are often termed a silent epidemic. Some individuals never get the help they truly and live decades feeling overwhelmed or anxious around food or feel uncomfortable in their own skin. Others choose to remain quite in treatment and eventually gain the strength, tools and support they need to recover and to live a quality filled life with a healthy body and mind. 

It's no surprise that in a body and food obsessed society, it's not very easy to maintain healthy relationship with food and the body,,,,, and this needs to change.

Eating disorders are starting earlier in life. By the age of 6, girls are expressing concerns about their weight. 40-60% girls (ages 6-12) are concerned about their weight or becoming fat.  Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. And if not treated, an eating disorder can stay with an individual for a lifetime.

About 99% of my career is dedicated to athletes, specifically endurance triathletes and runners. I not only help athletes learn how to eat and fuel to boost performance but I also help athletes learn how to develop a healthier relationship with food and the body.  I work with all levels from age groupers to professionals, men and women, and the young and the inspiring older population too.

I spend my entire day around food and exercise.
 All my focus and attention is centered around a body in motion and how food and sport nutrition products enhance performance.

But when I am not being a sport RD, I am an athlete. And I love being an athlete.
As a life-long competitive swimmer turned runner turned triathlete, I have used my body in amazing ways and have learned so much through competitive sports. I have improved self-esteem, I've learned how to overcome obstacles, I have made great friendships, I love the endorphin rush when I train and race, I see how hard work pays off and most of all, the skills, dedication and commitment I have with my training also helps me in life.

But as athletes, the same traits that make us great at our sport can also trigger disordered eating patterns and struggles with the body image. Some athletes can spend a career or lifetime without even a negative thought about the body or food but for many, the strong messages in our society about diet and body composition can make it extremely difficult for many athletes to navigate their way to a healthy relationship with food and the body.

Even though athletes are more prone to eating disorders, sports do not cause eating disorders. There are triggers and traits that can predispose an athlete to disordered eating. An athlete who wants to tone-up, improve lean muscle mass, lose weight, get faster or improve health can certainly work with a sport RD and make changes in the body composition in a healthy way through correct training and an appropriate fueling and daily diet regime. But if "healthy" habits become an obsession, disordered eating can very quickly turn into an eating disorder. At this point, an athlete is at great risk for injury, undernourishment, hormonal disorders, burnout and a sporting career cut short.

Eating disorders and disordered eating are not limited to the leanest athletes or just to female athletes. As a goal oriented and driven athlete, you may naturally have a different idea of what your body should look in order to perform well and you are likely very in-tune with what you eat because food is your fuel. There may be nothing wrong with your diet or eating habits and this "ideal" weight that you want to achieve, may even be healthy and achievable. But there is a right, safe way to eating in order to perform well and a wrong, unhealthy and impractical way to chase a body image.

But in a society that waits patiently for the next exciting way to eliminate food from the diet, us athletes need to be extremely careful to separate main stream media "diet" fads with the obligation we have to fuel our bodies in motion. 

               The March issue of Triathlete Magazine is filled with a lot of great info on how to train and race smarter. In the issue, you will also see my recent article titled "Eat to Thrive".


Did you know that it is not easy to pitch an article about disordered eating habits in active individuals, let alone in athletes?  The topic is not hot, current or trendy so it's easy to be viewed as a 'possibility' and not as a 'necessity'.

Even though I specialize in an area that affects so many athletes, rarely do we read, hear or discuss the topic of an unhealthy relationship but there needs to be more information on this topic so that athletes do not miss out on reaching their full potential and risking serious setbacks from not fueling a body in motion properly.  

Although diet fads, food elimination and race weight seem to be normal topics for magazines, I am incredibly grateful to my editor friends at Triathlete magazine for accepting my topic pitch and for giving me the opportunity to contribute to the magazine on a topic that I am very passionate about. 

Have you ever considered that your current relationship with food can serve either as a limiter or enhancer to your training and racing performance and overall health?

If you want to eat to thrive, check out my article in the March issue of Triathlete Magazine on page 88-89 to discover three possible red flags with your current relationship with food and how you should address them to make improvements in your overall health and fitness. 

READ THE ARTICLE HERE

Also - Thank you Ironman and Charisa Wernick for recently providing insight on a topic that is very personal to many and rarely discussed on main stream media, on sporting websites and in magazines. This is a topic that many can relate to and involves many issues that affect athletes of all sports and of all fitness levels, genders and ages.

"When I lost weight I got more compliments and sometimes improved in sports, which fueled my desire to lose even more. I also got injured more. I lived in a world where calories ruled my thoughts and I didn't have the time (or energy) to think about much else. It's a horrible escape, but somehow it went on for way too many years.

Rather than hating my body I started to appreciate it for the fun adventures it carried me through on a daily basis." - Charisa Wernick

2015 diet plans

Hello 2015!!!
The best time of the year to start a diet!! 
Big feast, lots of treats/sweets, off your typical routine. 

You have gone a bit overboard and now feel as if you have sinned with overindulgence or enough is enough and you are tired of your flaws and you have self-criticized yourself enough that you now have all the motivation in the world to finally start that diet plan. 

Sure, these are all things associated with the holiday season but they are also associated with individuals who seek diets. 

And let me tell you about diets these days...they are all over the place in terms of the rules, guidelines and promises that they make. 

What's always the same? 

They offer best-seller books and cookbooks because the media loves the attention that the diet is getting. You know about the diet because it's all over social media. Of course, those who aren't on the diet don't talk about it and those not on social media, well, they aren't in your bubble to talk about it so it certainly seems like everyone is doing it.

These diets, well, they have big results that make you believe that this diet is a life changer and convince you that as long as you "stick to the plan" you will lose weight and feel better. And above all, they have a tough love type of appeal - as you read the diet plan information, you can't help but think about what's not going well in your diet and although it may be the processed food you have heavily relied on for the past few years, the inability to pass on any sweet that comes your way, your lack of desire for home cooking, your unhealthy relationship with food, your lack of understanding about how to fuel for your workout/training routine or your lack of motivation to make a few healthy swaps in your diet, you go big and you know that a diet plan will not let you down because they told you if you followed the plan exactly (no slip-ups, cheat days or off-moments) you will change your life. 

   Lowered blood pressure, reduced diabetes risk/controlling diabetes, renal disease, improved cardiovascular health, reduced risk for cancer, GERD, IBS, Celiac disease, Crohn's - did you know that there are specific, clinical diets that have been studied for decades and the "diet" will assist in a positive way to control symptoms in all of these conditions? 

By why start there when you can follow a diet that cures everything....even what you don't have!

Just eliminate sugar, dairy, legumes and grains and eat real food, your gut will be healed forever, your hormones will be balanced forever and you will never have inflammation ever again!
Interesting that these days, no diet talks about the big reasons why people die -  the conditions that have a high mortality rate like heart disease, cancer, stroke, lung disease.

Interesting that these days everyone is so concerned with their gut, inflammation and hormones and the diet plans understand this. Perhaps they can make you feel better by eliminating food but show me the science that these diets will improve longevity and quality of life?

If you have a serious gut, inflammatory or hormonal issue, visit a doctor, get extensive testing and work with a RD. You are an individual so treat yourself as one. 

Food freedom
As a former clinical RD who has a lot of experience working with athletes who athletes who have clinical issues/food intolerances which require dietary changes, I understand how life-changing it can be to have to change the diet. Although a diet change can make that person feel better, it is not easy to know that you have to abide by certain dietary guidelines for the rest of your life in order to control your situation or manage the symptoms. The diets you see that are popping up all over the internet  they are for everyone but they often promote that they are for those who have clinical issues.
The rapid rise of gluten free cookbooks and blogs is fantastic....for those who have celiac disease or a severe gluten intolerance.

But let me tell you this, the moment you find out you have a disease or a food allergy, your life changes forever. You no longer have food freedom. You quickly learn what food elimination is all about because it is not temporary. There is no cheat day or I'll be better tomorrow.

If you do not have a clinical condition, consider yourself extremely lucky that you do not have to deal with these things on a day to day basis.

When was the last time you thought about your food freedom? The ability to eat what you want, when you want, anytime. It doesn't matter if that food makes you feel good or bad but rather, the freedom that your food choices are not limited by a clinical situation related to your well-being.

Talk to someone who has Crohn's, lupus or Celiac disease, live a week with them and you will quickly learn what "gluten-free" or food restriction is really all about and talk to that person about the symptoms she/he experiences when she/he eats foods that are "off limit" - it's far more serious than the inflammation, gas or bloating that can be eliminated by going gluten-free.

The ultimate goal of any individual, regardless of clinical issues, is to eat the most varied diet possible and not feel food-restricted so that food ultimately enhances life and improves health.

Feeling "off"
So once again, I hear ya! What's not to love about a diet that cures all diseases and conditions and makes you so healthy that you have no choice but to be so happy in life with your lifestyle changing, "non calorie-counting"  diet?

Anytime you overindulge, it's normal to feel a little off. It doesn't matter if it's in the entire month of November and December or 5 days of traveling - we have all been there.
If you are off your routine, it's easy to feel guilty or as if you are failing on your weight loss/body composition goals. 

So my question to you is, how do you define you idea of "ON". What's typical for you that makes you feel great about how you are eating?

A few days here or there of overindulging will not set you back in your weight loss/body composition goals and is perfectly normal and even healthy. The biggest problem with overindulging is how you feel afterward. But more so, it's not just a feeling but the actions that follow. 

For many people, there is no shortage of motivation to start a diet plan on January 1st because it follows the holiday season. It's a great time of the year to start fresh and begin a new journey. Not sure why our society doesn't have the same mentality about birthdays as the New Year is a mass celebration whereas your birthday celebrates your time on Earth.
But regardless, due to the way you may be feeling after the holidays, you may find it very hard to separate the methods of eating to improve health vs eating to lose weight.
You just want a change and you need it to feel better about yourself, your body or how you are living life.

I get that and I can't blame you for thinking that way. 

If you currently feel "off" right now, you must ask yourself what your diet looked like when you were feeling "on". If you feel your diet is typically very balanced and nourishing, you probably have the foundation in place, you just need to get back to your routine and I'm sure you will have no trouble achieving that come January 2nd. 

But if you feel "off" right now and motivation is really high to kick-start a new (or previous) diet plan, you must be careful of what diet plan you are super excited to follow to regain your great health or to help you reach your weight/body composition goals. If you have no "on", anything will sound better than what you are doing now or have been doing for the past x-months. 

If you have ever had experience dieting come the New Year, you may have noticed that most diet plans promise huge results and offer a quick fix. They probably won't make you feel this way at first and when you fail the diet, you will only blame yourself.

One of the biggest issues with dieting is the process that you put yourself through to get healthy or to change your body composition. Diet plans are products. You buy it (or buy into it) and then you "use" it. But when you can no longer adhere to the rules or the plan, you blame yourself for giving-in, cheating and not being disciplined enough. So, essentially, you fail the plan and it's on to the next diet or you try to buy-in one more time. 

I can't deny that most diets (if not all) will help you lose weight if you stick to them. But weight loss doesn't mean improved health. It makes no sense to change your body composition if you do not experience an improvement in health or quality of life. (Please agree with me on this). 

So if you think about starting a diet plan, it should be one that makes you healthier than prior to starting the plan. Not deprived, not hungry, not starving, not restricted, not isolated, not sick, not broke and not unhappy.

But of course, I am speaking to those who have food abundance. Sadly, 805 million people in this world are undernourished. Yet in America, we obsess about what not to eat, we throw out food that is "bad", we eliminate food to make us be healthy and more active. And what's crazy is that once the processed and fast food is gone in your diet (which is a big culprit of health issues in the USA), you begin to eliminate real food that can actually nourish someone who is hungry and malnourished!

But our society doesn't think like that. We don't think about those who don't have food because we are too busy talking about how easy it is to change our diet by the next time meal time comes around. 

A diet should not make you develop an unhealthy relationship with food. 

In 2015, I encourage you to stop dieting. Dieting is not a lifestyle, it's a product that you use until you are tired with it or can't follow the rules. Many times it does not serve you well long-term. 

I spend most of my time with athletes discussing their relationship with food. It's not exciting, it's not extreme, it's not hardcore and it's not media-catchy. It doesn't happen overnight so it's certainly no quick fix. 

But, it's life changing. 

In a diet and body image obsessed society, it's very difficult for many athletes/fitness enthusiasts to create and maintain a healthy relationship with food and the body. Dieting, food restriction and dietary fads fuel the fire when it comes to moving further away from improved body image confidence and understanding of how food makes you feel. 

Eating healthy

Healthy eating is extremely important and we are all in our own individual quest to be as healthy as can be. Your definition of healthy may be different than the next person and your methods of improving health may be unlike your best friend or significant other. But when you feel pressure on January 1st to follow the crowd and follow a diet plan (even if it's termed "lifestyle change") you must develop long term methods to healthy eating. 

Diets have a start and an end but a lifestyle change means you are focusing on sustainable changes. They aren't big nor extreme but manageable and realistic. They don't always make your body change quickly and that may make you feel like you are failing and question needing a new plan. 

But let's not forget one very important thing - with every change you consciously decide to make in your life, it should make you a better person. If it's a change in the diet, it should make you healthier. If it's a change in your workout routine, it should make you fitter. And if it's a change in your personal life, it should help you live better. 

Changes don't produce quick results.

I am trying my hardest but I know that many people are 100% set on following a diet plan in 2015. If anything, there's going to be a lot of support and enthusiasm for following a plan in January and you will have no shortage of motivation at the start of the New Year. 

Because it is my passion to help athletes and fitness enthusiasts learn how to create a healthier relationship with food and the body, I want to help you understand a few key points that you need to consider when changing your diet this New Year. 

Stay tuned for m Part II: Diet tips